Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-16
The Third Watch in the Great City,
The Hour of Sweet SIumber, the
Hour of Desperadoes,
The Drama of Life and How 1t May bg
witnessed at ANY Time without
Going to the Theater.
Where the Story of Life and Hope Fol
lowed by Death and Abandonment
Gan be Best Learned.
Special to the Gazette.

Tabernacle this morning there were the
same great throngs of people as usual,
overfowing the main audience rooA into
the corridors, and from the corridors into
the street. This, the largest church in
America, is more and more inadequate to
hold the people as the years go by.
All parts of the earth are represented at
every service. The pastor, Rev. T. De-
Witt Talmage, D. D., took for his text
this morning, "Watchman, What of the
Night?" Isaiah xxi, 2. He said:
When night came down on Babylon.
Nineveh and Jerusalem, they needed care
full watching, otherwise the incendiary's
torch might have been thrust into the
very heart of the metropolitan splendor;
OF enemies, marching from the hills,
might have forced the gates. All
night long, on top of the
wall and IN front of the gstes, might be
heard the measured step Of the watchman
on his solitary beat; silence hung in the
cir, save as some passer-by raised the
question: "WstchmaD, what of the
night?"
1t is to me deeply suggestive and
solemn thing to see a man standing guard
by night. It thrilled through me, as at
the gate of an arsenal in Charleston, the
question once smOte me: "Who comes
there?' followed by the sharp command:
'FAdvance and give the COunterslgn."
Every moral teacher stands on picket, or
patrols the wall as Waterman. His work
is to sound the alarm; and whether it be
IN the hrst watch, in the second watch,
in the third watch, or in the fourth watch,
to be vigilant
UNTIL THE DAYBREAK
filings its "mOrnfng glorles" of blooming
cloud across the arching trellis of the sky
The ancients divided their night into
four parasitic first watch, from six to
nine; the second, from nine to twelve;
the third, from twelve to three; the
fourth, from three to six.
I speak now of the city in the third
watch, or from u to O'Clock.
never weary of looking upon the life
and brillisncy of the city in the first
watch. That is the hour when the stores
are closing. The laboring men, having
quilted the sCafolding and the shop, are
on their way home. 1t rejOiCes me to
give them nv seat in the city car. They
have stood and hammered away all day
Their feet are weary. They are exhausted
with the tug of work. They are mostly
cheerful. With appetites sharpened on
the swift turner's wheel and the carpen-
ter's milestone, they seek the evening
meal. The clerks, too, have broken
away from the counter, and with brain
weary Of the long line of figures and the
Whims Of those who go q shopping, seek
the face of mother, or wife and child.
The merchants are embarrassing them
selves from their anXieties, on their
way up the street. The boys
that lock up are hesving away
at the shutters, showing the heavy bolts,
and taking q last look at the fire to see
that all is safe. The streets are thronged
with young men, setting out from the
great Centers Of bargain-making.
Let idlers clear the street, and give
right of way to the besWeated artisans
and merchants! They have earned their
bread, and are now on their way home to
get it.
The lights in full Jet hang over 10000
evening repasts-the parents at either
end of the table, the children between.
Thank God, "Who setteth the solitary in
families"
a few hours later, and all the places OF
amusement, good and bad, are
IN FULL TIDE.
Lovers of art, catalogue in hand, stroll
through the galleries and discuss the
pictures. The ballroom is Respondent
with the rich apparel of those who, on
either side of the white, gliStening boards,
await the signal from the orchestra. The
fOOtIights of the tneater fash up; the bell
rings, and the curtain rises; and out from
the gorgeous scenery glide the actors,
greeted with the vociferstion of the ex-
peCtant multitudes. COnCert-halls are
ellS r,&N V,oh,v L.
OF one sOngStress, or swept out on sea
Of tumultuous feeling by the blast of bra
zen instruments. Drawing rooms are
filed with all grecefulness of apparel,
with all sweetness of sound, with all
Splendor of manner; mirrors are catch
ing up and multiplying the scene, until it
seems as if IN infinite corridors there were
gsrlanded groups advancing and retreat
ing.
The outdoor air rings with laughter
snd with the moving to and fro of thous-
ands on the great promenades. The
dsshing span adrip with the foam of the
long country ride, rushes past as you halt
st the curbstone.
Mirth, revelry, beauty, fashion, mag
niticence mingle in the great metropolitan
picture, until the thinking man goes home
TO think more seriously, and the praying
man to pray more earnestly.
beautiful and overwhelming thing IS
the city in the first and second watches
of the night.
But the clock strikes - and the third
watch has begun.
The thunder of the city has rolled out
Of the air. The slightest sounds cut the
night with such distinctness as to attract
your attention. the tinkling of the bell
of the street car in the distance, and the
0ayirg of the dog, the stamp of horse
IN the next street, the slamming of q
saloon door, the hIccOugh OF the drunk
ard, the shrieks of the steam whistle five
miles away. 0, how suggestive, my
friends, the
THIRD WATCH OF THE NIGHT.
There are honest men passing up and
down the streets. Here is q city mission
ary who has been carrying scuttle of
coal to that poor family in that dark
place. Here is an undertaken going up
the steps of building from which there
comes bitter cry which indicates that
the destroying angel has smitteu the first
born. Here is minister of religion who
has been giving the sacrament to dying
Christian. Here is a physician passing